Lewisham Council and Croydon Council will share £79.5 million of funding for a Private Finance Initiative street lighting scheme.

The funding will allow Lewisham to secure private sector partners for the scheme to upgrade 44,000 streetlights over the next 25 years. Lewisham and Croydon will now begin discussions with potential partners on how the work will proceed. Work on the project could start in 2009.

I have been contacted by constituents in the past about poor street lighting and the fear this creates for people, especially in the winter when travelling home from work in the dark. This extra investment should make a real difference to road safety, as well as reducing crime and the fear of crime.